Thank You Kevan
Thank You Kevan
A collection of messages from the community to Kevan Davis, the creator of Urban Dead.
A Message to the Community
As Urban Dead reaches the end of its service, this page is dedicated to preserving the voices of its players. Whether you want to share your fondest memories, express gratitude, or leave a message for Kevan, this is the place to do it.
We invite everyone—survivors, zombies, and those who once roamed Malton—to add their open letters below.
How to Submit a Letter
To add your own open letter, edit this page and format your message as follows:
== Your Name or Alias == (Write your letter here)
or click here
Letters from the Community
Axe Hack
Dear Kevan :
I first want to start by saying Urban Dead was what got me through my high school years. During my years in high school, I was always that weird nerdy kid. From anime, manga, and video games, I had always had a fascination with the zombie genre. The 2000's was a really good decade for the zombie genre, what with series like Highschool of the Dead, Resident Evil and Shaun of the Dead becoming instant cult classics. I first discovered Urban Dead after finding your zombie infection simulator. Man, I must have spent hours watching those dots move around, simulating a zombie outbreak.
Urban Dead was probably my first MMO, and probably many other's first MMO. The internet was still young, we were all on Windows XP, and the concept of a MMO really hasn't taken off yet. This was probably one of the earliest examples of a community forming around a game. A game where you could play together with other people. A game where you could do almost anything with a bit of imagination and the theater of mind. It was a cheap game that ran well on most PCs from the time, and as a kid in high school, all we had are cheap office PCs that our parents probably did their taxes on.
The community was so great that I practically lived on this wiki when I was in high school, helping out where I could. My time on the wiki's sysops team was probably my greatest achievement back then (high school me set that bar pretty low). I remember some concerns I had that I had emailed you about, about some players impersonating one of my toons - you didn't have to do anything to address those concerns, but you did anyway, changing the font of the game to make zeros and O's more distinguishable from each other. It's such a minor issue looking back at it now, but it showed you really cared about your players.
There was a chat I had with another player a very long time ago...They've asked me, "How long do you expect to play Urban Dead for?", and I answered, "Until the game dies." Ironic, how after thinking I probably wouldn't be keeping that promise since retiring almost 10 years ago, that I would be pulled back in by another player trying to get a reunion together, right in time to play until the game dies...
Urban Dead, in my opinion, will always be about it's community. While the game itself may be going away, so long as that community continues to exist, Urban Dead will never cease to exist. On behalf of the community, thank you for Urban Dead. You created a game that had a lasting impact on so many people. While often times it might seem like you're not involved with the community as much, you've managed to create one of the greatest communities on the internet.
Thank you, Kevan, for everything that you have given us.
--Axe Hack Talk 03:32, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Enoch the Watcher/Quinn Inuit
Dear Kevan :
Thanks for creating this and keeping it going for all of these years. I had a great time, met some great people, and learned a lot about life and friendship. This started out as a game, developed a community, and is now an internet legend. Congratulations on nearly two decades of being awesome.
To all of the other players out there, thanks for the good times, the lunacy, and even the headshots. I hope I added as much to your enjoyment of the game as you added to mine.
--Enoch the Watcher/Quinn Inuit Talk 03:54, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
SenisterDenister/Welsfred
Kevan,
Had loads of fun over the years. Almost made it to 20 with you. Wish you all the best. Shame it had to end this way. Not good with words. Sorry for getting emotional.
Regards, SenisterDenister)
Natick
I first found Urban Dead in the halcyon days of 2005. I wasn't early enough for my character to have arrived "during the early outbreaks," but twenty years is twenty years. I was there for the construction of the Lexicon on the wiki - a worldbuilding exercise that still evokes fond memories. In retrospect, it's crazy that a simple browser game inspired that many people who were so invested in this collection of squares that they created an origin story for it.
Twenty years is a long time, and as life dragged me around my country, my participation dropped off from time to time. But I came back again and again, and here I am now, at the end of all things. It's kind of a shame that you couldn't hold out until the 3rd of July - the twenty-year anniversary. But politics is politics.
Sometimes I wonder why you let this game exist for so long. It must be costing you money. I've watched the player base drop; I've watched suburbs go functionally dead. But somehow, there are still survivor enclaves, and zombie hordes that occasionally clean us out, and somehow the Yagoton Revivification Clinic is always there to make us whole again. Your little game survived from the wild and free internet of the 2000s even into the commercialized, commodified internet of today, and somehow there are people giving you their fifty clicks per visit like nothing has changed.
By the way, I also enjoyed "Escape from the SS Borgarís." I'd get ya that freeze-dried coffee if I could, but the way things are going in my country, Malton looks tranquil by comparison, and my situation isn't exactly secure.
--X1M43 Talk 04:01, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Dislycan
I'm not great with words, but thank you for the two decades of fun. I hope Urban Dead exceeded your wildest hopes and dreams. I'll always cherish the memories I made here, and the community I was able to be a part of. Dislycan (talk) 04:10, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
DDTNM/IBDead2U/CuthbertTwillie/Bluden G Utts/DoktorRev
Kevan, thank you for maintaining this fun game for as long as you have. It has been a blast playing for all these years, and I've enjoyed sharing the game with members of my hordes and survivor groups (though I stopped playing the survivors years ago). Zangz bar arr zah habbah z!hmz, brazzar! TommyVee (talk) 04:15, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Dijon Sanders
Hey Kevan,
This game has brought me so much joy over the years. I first started playing as an angsty teenager in high school, and now, in my 30s with graying hair, I’m still here - time really does fly.
I’ve met so many great people and made memories I’ll cherish for the rest of my days. A part of me always thought UD would last forever, but I suppose all good things must come to an end. I can’t thank you enough for everything.
As for the UD-shaped hole in my heart… maybe I’ll fill it with booze and bad decisions (JK - probably just Candy Crush or something). Either way, when the time comes to pull the plug, you can count on me to pour out the finest malt liquor in UD's honor. See y’all at the crossroads. --Dijon Sanders Talk
AndyMatthews
Just wanted to put out a short message saying thanks for keeping the game up over the years. It's one of the oldest browser games I still play (others I lost interest in or they ended up getting shuttered as well). I've had a great time with it. AndyMatthews (talk) 06:14, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Richard of Earth
It has been a great ride. It is a wonderful thing that you created a fun environment for the players to create more fun and boy did they create. Thanks for giving us this opportunity to be citizens of Malton. Richard of Earth (talk) 06:19, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Hagnat
I believe the wiki and you, kevan, knows how much i loved playing urban dead, and how much dedication i showed towards the wiki in the early days.
What a lot of people dont know is that by doing so made me a better person than i was before.
I was an OP from 2006 to 2009, and i only stopped because i had to focus on my university thesis, BS in Computer Sciences.
By improving the tools in the wiki, I managed to hone my web development skills here, and make a living out of that IRL.
I am now a Backend Software Engineer (don't deal with frontend anymore), and my journey as a software engineer begun here on this wiki.
Interacting with so many cultures in a single game allowed me to open my eyes to the world with a connection to their people, not just nice pictures on magazines.
It ingrained in me the yearn to meet those cultures personally, not just to visit them but to live them.
I moved to Sao Paulo and Amsterdam, two extremelly diverse cosmopolitan cities.
I got to meet and interact with those cultures i only got to interact virtually before.
I managed to understand more about my country and the world because of this
This game and community left an extremelly postive impact in my life,
and for that i will be extremelly thankful.
So long, and thank you... --hagnat 13:00, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Tarkenton
Thank you Kevan for providing so many people with such an incredibly fun sandbox to play in.
Many of us have spent thousands upon thousands of hours playing UD over the best part of two decades, building online communities and creating life long friendships with folks from all over the world. UD has had a profound impact on all of us. It has been a very special game and one that we'll always remember and talk about. Thank you for giving us that gift. Be proud of your accomplishment.
All the best to you and your loved ones and again, from the heart, thank you.
Tarkenton [Knights Templar]
Eerongal
Thanks for a great game! I'm sad to see it go, but I spent many hours with this game back in the day.
While I haven't really played in quite some time, I would occasionally log back in to see how things were going here and there. I had a lot of fun times hanging out in Tikhon Medical and reviving patients, barricading and protecting the people in the building, and coordinating said defense.
GhostKillah-FPDF Sinonfyre-RRF
Kevan,
Thank you for the many wonderful years with your game. I had always hoped you would be able to modernize it and continue the game I have spent years on and donated to in order to continue its existence. To make it 20 years is no small feat! Be proud of what you were able to do with this game! Please save the source code and consider to sell to an independent developer so it can come back online in the future. I would be thoroughly pleased to be able to play this game once again. This game and its community have been a large part of my life and I have made several incredible friends through your game. For all the great times and amazing sieges this game has provided, I raise my glass to you sir!
My gracious thank you, GhostKillah/Sinonfyre
Pedentic
I love reading all the stories that occurred in Malton, and was astonished to discover that I could participate in those stories! Urban Dead was a lot of fun when I played in high school, and the wiki skills I picked up here helped get me a job in college so that's neat. It's been real, y'all. Or at least as real as a fictional zombie apocalypse simulator can be. Thanks for the good memories, Kevan. --Pedentic 16:29, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Bodici22
I can't begin to describe how important this game is to me. Your game has given me friendship. My pub mates in the Dalley Library in Peppardville have been my friends for longer than most of my real life friends. As a teenager in high school in 2006 until now being an adult in my 30s, checking UD has been part of my life. I wrote and drew fanart for this game on high school. I wrote a paper about this game in college. I'm absolutely crushed that we don't get to make it to 20 years. Thank you. Thank you so much. In 2009 I bought an urban Dead shirt, and I am buying a new one to carry the memories with me. I will never stop appreciating everything this game did for me. ~ with love from Bodici22, with the blue hair and the cake vodka, slapping everyone with her newspaper.
Deathbymoshpit
Back in 2005, this game gave me my first real experience with an online community. I joined the Ridleybank Resistance Front, and for years, that group and its message board felt like home. Few online games have ever matched that sense of connection for me. For 20 years I've been roaming this city, and there's nothing else like this.
Kevan, you truly made something remarkable here, and want you to know how impactful this game has been for so many of us. Best of luck in whatever you do in the future
Riffmongous/Warnie/TAKA
Thanks for keeping the game up for as long as you did, and thank you UD for all the memories.
To all my old comrades in the SoC, CDF, IG646, thanks for all the fun times down through the years,the strikes, the forums, the camaraderie.
Fred Dullard
Dear Kevan:
I have been having fun here since 2005, and I will always be grateful for the game and the community here. I wish you well. The RRF was not my first online community, but it has absolutely been my favorite, and your game was the framework it has lived in. Thank you for your work keeping this going for so long.
Rib15/Slambammam/Barnabus Collins/Blarney Stoner
Dear Kevan,
This game has given me many hours of fun and community since 2007. Thanks for keeping it going for so long. It was one of the small things I did each day during Covid that kept me going. I will miss it. Best of luck in all your future ventures. - Ron
